Chapter 3: New Life

  That information was just suddenly there, imprinted at the same moment that I became aware that there was, in some way, a ‘Me’. Who was ‘Me’? No clue, but the information that had dropped into my head certainly implied I was a ‘Me’ that had a past, even if I couldn’t remember it. Well, it called me ‘You’ but when referring to oneself, Me, Myself or I were the appropriate word choices, not ‘you’.

  I knew that, but how did I know that?

  Not yet certain if I was…

  *THUuuummmMMMPPP*

  Whoa, what w...

  *THuuummmMMPP*

  Er, is that inside of...

  *Thu-thuumMPP*

  Yup, pretty sure tha...

  *Thu-thump*

  ‘Must say I didn’t expect a heartbeat to be so intense,’ I thought before everything became much more intense. Thousands of impressions of feeling assaulted ‘Me’ suddenly. Pretty sure I have a body, that body has nerves, and all of those nerves were suddenly flipped into the on position. Hard. Skin, I have skin and it has thousands of suddenly aware nerve endings. Awareness of cool thin lines pressed into my back. Skin across what I can only assume is my body.

  A red glow is suddenly noted amongst the other sensory input.

  A rasping sound presses my awareness as even more skin and body sensations slam into my perception.

  Green.

  Green and bright.

  Green and blue and brightness assault my being as I reflexively yank my eyelids open.

  The evergreen forest has gaps in the canopy, revealing bits of clear blue sky. Certainly daytime, but the sun isn’t visible in this gap between the trees. The light filtering through the pine needles is suddenly overcome in my perception as scent brutalizes my next wave of sensory overload.

  Dirt and decay and growth and resin, sun heated pine needles and warmth laid over with hints of damp, wafts of musk, dung, and crushed grass played about in my sinuses.

  “Status Display.” words spilled from ‘my’ mouth into ‘my’ ears as I tried to visualize and trigger the words

  I became aware of another page with stark text.

  I inhaled sharply and let out a sigh, “Well that looks bad.” After focusing intensely, information for Inverted Sobriety displays.

  “Yup, that’s… Bad” Rather than going from top to bottom, I focus on a few entries that seemed most confusing at first.

  “Well, that is pretty useful, except in my current situation.” Fully aware that asking questions for seeking out a population center, or the best direction to go, are pointless. General survival questions might be useful, however the chances of good survival knowledge being common knowledge doesn’t feel likely to me either.

  Glancing about and noting a slight change in the shadows from above, the realization that spending more time perusing the Status was probably not the best use of time at the moment. At least so far as survival is concerned.

  Lifting my arms up so I could take a look at my hands I was hit by a light wave of… something. Nausea? Vertigo? It was something uncomfortable in my gut and my head as very normal shaped (to my personal instinctual understanding) but oddly hued hands entered my line of sight. Grey, my brain raced, my hands and forearms are grey. A granite rock like grey, not like an unhealthy skin grey, is simply the pigment of my skin.

  To confirm my situation I had to climb to my feet and look down at my body.

  More grey, lots of grey, I’d say every part of me was grey because nothing was covered with clothing. Well, maybe not my face and back, but I guess I couldn’t really check that at the time.

  Stretching my body carefully, I expanded my focus from my own body to look around the area. I’m pretty sure I understand language, so I attempt to give my voice a bit of a go.

  “Fully naked and female in the midst of a pine forest.” Oh, my voice was resonant to my own ears, deep alto? Tenor?” Unsure of how my own voice must sound to my ears, bone resonance and all, I figured self labeling might not mean much. “Being naked is not great, but there’s no sting of discomfort from cold or exposure.” Running hands with a hue similar to slate over my skin I continue to comment aloud. “No hair, not even eyebrows. But not any discomfort from laying on pine needles and an irregular forest floor. Probably some rather tough skin.”

  Listening carefully I only heard some sounds created by wind in the trees, oh, and maybe some bug clicks? I slowly picked a direction, aiming myself towards what seems to be a downward slope. Moving in that direction, the feeling of dirt and pine needles pressing against the souls of my feet was far less traumatic than those early nerve overloads.

  Though the area lacked anything resembling a trail, the undergrowth was not overly wild. Eyes taking in the trees and watching for threats I had a thought. ‘If I encounter a group and they call me or think of me as Naked Girl, I won’t be able to assign myself a name of my choice until I convince them I have a different name. Names are important, right? I think so,’ I decided. Hmmm, names…

  ‘Leaf? Needle? Tree? Sky, I like Sky, but I look more like gravel. Gravel, no… Alice? Luna? Sol? Sola? Cloud? Azure, wrong color. Gray? Grey? Dove Grey, ugh if I go with a pun, it better be more clever. Why do I care if my name is clever?’

  Noticing that my feet don’t seem bothered by the detritus on the ground I began to move faster into a loping jog.

  ‘Green? Kelly? Susan? Helen? Zoe? Jane? Jack? Jacquie, trying too hard. Ellen? River? Stream? Brooke? Brook…. Oh, right, water.’ Coming to a stop I wondered how long I was even jogging.

  A slight shrug only for myself was the last movement before being still and opening myself to the sounds. There… Just above the sounds of the wind in the pines was a hint of a burble, forward and to the left.

  Moving slowly in that direction I continued to ponder names… ‘Layla? Lola? Lily? Heather? Feather? Weather? Dream? Die? Dice? Dulche de Leche?’

  Moving to the side of some taller undergrowth that seemed to have grown near the water flowing ahead, the half giant spotted both the glint of water, as well as the glint off an aqua-green scalp.

  In my head, I form a question, ‘System Query: What is the race of the creature directly ahead of me by the water?’

  Moments passed with no response, then a minute, then two minutes.

  In a whisper she tried again, “System Query: What is the race of the creature directly ahead of me by the water?”

  Again in a whisper, “System Query: What is the general moral compass of a goblin?”

  In a cross between a whisper and a hiss, “So Helpful!” A truly helpful AI may have added an eye roll emoji at this point “System Query: What is this region's perception of nudity?”

  Better. “System Query: what day of the week is it?”

  ‘And tomorrow is April, so…’ Taking a quiet but deep breath, I stood straight allowing me to see over the brush, and down at the small figure which, upon closer examination, appeared to be fishing.

  “Greetings, please pardon the interruption. I’m Monday March, and I seem to be more than a little bit lost. Would you be willing to have a talk with me, and perhaps direct me to… somewhere I might find my footing?”